


The Past is Prologue

by gladsomemind



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, Gen, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-12
Updated: 2020-02-12
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:00:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22681369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gladsomemind/pseuds/gladsomemind
Summary: At the end of The Dark World Loki has a choice.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 13





	The Past is Prologue

Everything stopped. It was the perfect culmination of all of Loki’s desires over the past year, Odin lying at his feet with his throne for the taking.

It would be so easy, to pick up Gungnir and take the power that came with being the King of Asgard.

No-one was aware that Odin had fallen into Odinsleep. It would be the work of a moment to weave an illusion and become the Allfather. Heimdall could be dealt with, another keeper put on the repaired Bifrost. The Warriors Three and Sif could be sent away ignorant of what they’d missed. Thor could do whatever he wanted with no thought for the needs of his subjects.

It was the last that made Loki pause.

If he took the throne, pretended to be Odin, there was much he could do. He could prepare Asgard for the war that was coming. He could rebuild relationships with the other realms, so they were in a position to help themselves, and Asgard, when the time came. He would certainly make life better for those of the Realm that weren’t of the warrior breed.

There was so much good.

But Thor. Oh yes, Thor. He would get to live a life of freedom. To continue being the Crown Prince who all bowed down to yet no one expected anything substantial of. The preparations Loki would make for the foreseen invasion wouldn’t fall on the one who deserved to carry the burden. Thor would swing that damned hammer and quaff and wench and drive that poor Midguardian insane, after all Loki had met and talked to Jane and there was only so much someone like her could put the physical above the mental and after the way Odin had treated her did she really deserve that much additional aggravation in her life?

If Loki took up the spear and the seat and the reins there would come a day of reckoning. It wouldn’t be pleasant for him. A return to the dungeon and the travails therein would be almost a certainty, if his head wasn’t taken in its place. The warriors wouldn’t care about the good that he may have done, it would all be about the slights done to them, their perceived loss of standing at others of Asgard being raised to be their equals.

And what did he really owe this realm?

An unfair question. He owed the realm a lot. There were teachers and vassals and a lot of genuinely good people. There was a woman who had done the best she could by him in raising a child foisted on her at the end of a war, sharing her knowledge freely and visiting him in gaol when all his deeds came home to roost.

Better, what did he owe the House of Bor? To Odin? To Thor? They were the root of all of his problems. Did his love for them warrant the pain and suffering that would be the wages of his actions in trying his best for Asgard?

Gungnir lay at Loki’s feet. Odin lay sprawled over the floor at the news that ‘his youngest son had fallen protecting the elder’, escaping again the aftermath of the results of his decisions.

Thor thought Loki dead. Odin thought Loki dead. Asgard’s warriors wouldn’t accept Loki as king as himself, they would undermine his orders every chance they had based on last time and the lack of consequences piled on Thor’s friends; his only choice would be to _be_ Odin.

There were other Realms. There were worlds outside the other Realms. There were dangers in those worlds that he had never known. But there were opportunities he could not imagine.

Time was short.

Become Odin, toil to save the world he was raised in with no expectation of thanks or even acknowledgement of a job well done. To have condemnation when he was eventually found out; pain and suffering, unfortunately not beyond imagining, poured over his head.

Leave and face the uncertainty of the unknown. There was pain and suffering to be had out there as well. There were new people and potential friends who knew nothing of his connections and his past deeds. The chance to become someone different. Someone better.

Known pain versus an uncertain future. Death by hanging against a possible pit filled with spikes or a hungry bilgesnipe or torture at the hands of Thanos’ minions.

The path in the woods forked.

“Call the healers. The Allfather has fallen into the Odinsleep!”

Decision made, the paths to Midguard were close and easy to navigate. A little recuperation, a little hiding and Loki could start his new life free from the burdens of his past.

**Author's Note:**

> Something found lurking on a hard drive. It was originally an opening to a whole thing but stands on its own well enough.


End file.
